Near-fatal injuries provide life lessons for young New Bern woman

Guadalupe Corona has learned some serious life lessons in the past two years. She discovered life is fragile and can end without warning. She also found out there is support all around — her religious faith, her family, friends and the Sudan Shriners.

Guadalupe Corona has learned some serious life lessons in the past two years.

She discovered life is fragile and can end without warning. She also found out there is support all around — her religious faith, her family, friends and the Sudan Shriners.

Corona, now 18, was nearly killed in a traffic wreck in late March 2011.

“Once the paramedics took me out, there were no signs of life. They shocked me to revive me,” she said this week, sitting on a couch in her parents’ home in New Bern. “I thank God they revived me.”

Suffering a traumatic injury to the right side of her head, she had no broken bones, but was in a coma for more than a month. She breathed and was fed artificially. The feeding tube remained her source of nourishment for seven months.

Her brain injury left her paralyzed on her left side, and regaining her cognitive skills came slowly.

During the time she was bound to her bed, her father, Richardo, installed a doorbell for her to signal her parents, and she wrote to them on a large white board, which she still has.

Today, she is a student at Craven Community College, although she still doesn’t have use of her left arm, hand or fingers. She needs assistance to stand and walk and does so slowly, wearing a brace on her knee.

The brace came from therapy she received through assistance from the Sudan Shriners and their orthopedic hospital in Greenville, S.C.

Her connection with the Shriners, who are holding their Winter Ceremonial and parade in New Bern this weekend, came through her friend from middle school, Cortney Cosner. Her dad, Harry, is a Shriner.

Last summer, she made her first trip to the Shriners Hospital.

Early Thursday, Guadalupe and her mother, Rosa, went to Sudan headquarters on Broad Street and boarded one of Sudan’s Roadrunner vans, which transports children to the Shriner hospitals. This, her fourth trip to South Carolina, was for an evaluation.

“The Shriners are just such great people,” she said. “The Road Runners are super sweet. It is amazing to think there are actually people out that that really just want to help you. They have really big hearts.”

Her physical future remains uncertain, but she remains optimistic.

“I keep my faith and my hope and they have always helped me get through this,” she added.

The Shriners hold their annual winter parade at noonSaturday in downtown New Bern, and the Roadrunners are one of many units that represent the work of the thousands of Eastern North Carolina Sudan’s 40-plus counties.

Guadalupe qualified for the Shriner medical service to children because she was still under the age of 18 when her accident happened.

Page 2 of 2 - There are 589 children who live in Sudan’s jurisdiction receiving care at one of the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children. There are 47 who live in Craven County, and Guadalupe is one of 41 who attend the Greenville hospital. Another six attend the Shriner Burn Center in Cincinnati.

In the last 14 years, Shriners have helped 173 children in Craven County, including six who were patients at the Spinal Cord Injury Unit in Philadelphia.

Sudan has eight vans that transport children and two have wheelchair lift vans. Four vans are housed in New Bern and four in Wilson.

There are always two drivers on the vans and, in the last five years, the Roadrunners have made 989 trips.

In the past five years, Sudan spent $525,673 transporting children to Shriners Hospitals either by van, airplane or reimbursing families for gas and lodging.

The vans are donated by Sudan Shrine Clubs, who raise money with fish fries, golf tournaments and other fund-raisers.

To date, Shriners Hospitals for Children have helped nearly 1 million children and, in 2010, there were 28,127 hospital admissions and 290,957 outpatient visits.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 635-5667 or Charlie.hall@newbernsj.com.